Passport, ammo seized from man suspected in active shooter incident

New evidence suspect was planning to leave Ohio with AK-47

LEBANON —

The 19-year-old man charged in the active shooter incident last week in Warren County was preparing to leave Ohio with an assault rifle, according to evidence released this week.

Investigators seized a U.S. passport, several cell phones, other assorted electronic devices and ammunition during a search of the home of Mohammed Laghaoui, according to a search warrant filed Monday.

Laghaoui is charged with wounding his father and a sheriff’s deputy Thursday night and prompting a seven-hour manhunt and lockdown of the area around his apartment in the Landen area of Warren County.

The search warrant was returned, making it public a day after 911 recordings were released indicating Laghaoui was packing to leave Ohio when his family’s second call about their continuing domestic dispute brought a Warren County sheriff’s deputy to the base of their apartment steps. Also Monday, a prosecutor said during Laghaoui’s arraignment that he was planning to leave the state.

Laghaoui remained in the county jail Tuesday on $2 million bond. Investigators continued to search for the gun alleged to have been used in the shooting incident on June 9 that ended with Deputy Katie Barnes and and his father, Abdessadek Laghaoui, wounded.

Laghaoui is charged with attempted aggravated murder and felonious assault and scheduled to return to Mason Municipal Court on Thursday. He has denied the charges.

Last Friday, Sheriff Larry Sims provided extensive details about the incident, including that Laghaoui’s father ran after and tried to restrain him, even after being wounded by one of the shots fired through the apartment door.

But Sims said he was unsure what the Laghaouis were fighting about.

Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell declined to comment on motive, including whether Laghaoui, a Morrocan who attended but did not graduate from the Lakota school district in Butler County, was acting as a “lone wolf” terrorist or was motivated by some terrorist group.

“Still too early to comment on any motive. All possible motives are still on the table,” Fornshell said in a text message Monday.

Fornshell said no further information would be released until Laghaoui’s next hearing, Thursday in Mason Municipal Court.

The affidavit filed Tuesday with the search warrant by Det. Mark Purdy of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office also indicates Laghaoui’s 2003 Lincoln Towne Car was searched on June 10. He is alleged to have gone to the car before the shooting started on Thursday outside the Laghaouis’ apartment.

The search warrant inventory filed with the warrant also indicated seizure of four computer storage drives, two tablet computers, two cell phones, two computer towers and an empty box of the type of ammunition allegedly used in the shooting.

Two cameras, a laptop computer, bullet fragment, a manual for an AK-47 – the type of rifle allegedly used in the shooting – and a receipt for ammunition were also seized, according to the search warrant.

Authorities say the shooting started when Barnes responded for the second time that night to calls of a domestic dispute involving the Laghaoui family.

Barnes was shot in the abdomen, and Laghaoui’s father, Abdessadek Laghaoui, in the left hand. Neither wound was considered life-threatening and Barnes was reportedly recovering at home.

Laghaoui is also accused of shooting at a neighbor who watched him as he raged outside his family’s apartment at the Orchard at Landen complex before leaving the crime scene, prompting a seven-hour manhunt.

Laghaoui returned to the apartment about 4:30 a.m. Friday, and was arrested without incident.

Laghaoui’s father and brother could not be reached for comment.

On Tuesday, authorities continued to search for the gun, which Laghaoui apparently hid before returning to the apartment, lifting the overnight lockdown on the neighborhood.